When the doorbell rang at Larry Bigbie's home in Valparaiso, Ind., on a typically cold winter day in January 2006, there was no reason for him to think something unusual was about to occur.

Bigbie opened the door and accepted a package from a UPS delivery man. Inside the box was a human growth hormone kit that he ordered over the phone from trainer and friend Kirk Radomski.

Bigbie set the package on a table in his house, just as he had the two other times he received one from Radomski. Everything about the previous few moments was so standard.

Then, with no forewarning, the routine was shattered, setting off a chain of events that would forever mark the professional baseball career of the former Ball State standout.

The doorbell rang again, perhaps no more than two minutes after the delivery person left. When Bigbie opened the door this time and looked at his visitors, a sick feeling rocked the bottom of his gut.

"You're always (suspicious) when you're doing something like that," Bigbie says. "You always wonder, but you never think you're going to be the one."

Standing outside the door of Bigbie's home was Jeff Novitzky, an Internal Revenue Service special agent, and four other federal agents. They were there to bust Bigbie for purchasing and using steroids.